A busy offseason awaits the Lakers that should give general manager Mitch Kupchak little sleep.

Will the ping pong balls bounce the Lakers’ way so they can keep their Top 3 protected draft pick? How will the Lakers use their cap money after Kobe Bryant’s pending retirement? Will the Lakers retain coach Byron Scott after experiencing another season out of playoff contention and in the Western Conference cellar?

Kupchak declined on Wednesday to address the latter issue as Scott oversees the Lakers (11-44) likely finishing with their worst season in franchise history for the second consecutive year.

“Byron is under contract,” Kupchak said at the Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo. “Until that changes, or if that changes, we’ll let you know.”

Scott has two years left on a contract worth $8.5 million, including guaranteed salary for next year. But that has not stopped the Lakers from parting ways with their coaches in recent seasons. The Lakers fired Mike Brown five games into only his second season (2012). Mike D’Antoni resigned after his second season (2014).

Despite Scott overseeing the Lakers going 21-61 last season, Kupchak routinely praised Scott for his work ethic, positive attitude and ensuring that his players competed. But Kupchak offered no such words when asked if he thought Scott has done a good job in his second year coaching the Lakers.

“I don’t want to get into a Byron discussion right now,” Kupchak said. “I’m not going to answer any more questions about Byron. My concern is one question will lead to another. If his status changes, I’ll let you know.”

Minutes later, a Lakers official interrupted a question pertaining to the criticism Scott received regarding how he has handled rookie point guard D’Angelo Russell. Kupchak then declined to answer.

Ever since December, the Lakers have planned to retain Scott for the 2015-16 campaign before evaluating him in the offseason. The Lakers have expressed sympathy for Scott’s numerous challenges, including managing Bryant’s last season and developing a crop of young players. Some Lakers officials not connected to the front office have privately expressed frustration about the team’s record and Scott’s tough love toward young players. But it’s not clear to what degree the Lakers’ front office shares those same sentiments.

“I haven’t been listening to it or hearing it,” said Scott about criticism before alluding to his vacation in Mexico during NBA All-Star weekend. “I was away and enjoying myself to the best of my ability and not thinking about basketball.”

Kupchak became more forthcoming on other topics.

He considered it “unlikely” the Lakers will make a deal before Thursday’s deadline. That’s because the Lakers will not trade Bryant and the team appears intent on keeping its young players, including Russell, Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr. and Anthony Brown. The Lakers could package any combination of Roy Hibbert, Brandon Bass, Lou Williams, Nick Young, Ryan Kelly and Robert Sacre. But it appears unclear if any teams would have interest.

“There’s an awful lot of interest in our young players,” Kupchak said. “I don’t think it’s likely we’ll do anything there. The other players are on one-year deals and expiring contracts. Strategically, it could affect the offseason in terms of cap room and stuff like that. There’s a lot of conversation, but it’s unlikely anything significant will happen.”

That did not stop Lakers trainer Gary Vitti from jokingly telling some of those players Kupchak wanted to talk with them on Wednesday.

That contrasted to the noise on Wednesday. But even if Kupchak declined to address the chatter about Scott, the Lakers’ general manager offered specifics on what he will evaluate in the Lakers’ 27 remaining games.

“The big part of our team until the end of the season is to make sure our young players develop, continue to play hard and be aggressive,” said Kupchak, who reported talking to them on Wednesday morning. “You want to see them in the face of this adversity in a tough season and to show some mental toughness to push through it and show me your best. It helps us during the offseason when it comes to evaluating our needs.”

To provide clarity on that, Scott said he plans to play Bryant “a tad less” than the 29.3 minutes per game he has averaged thus far. But Scott and Kupchak reiterated plans for Bryant to play in as many games as possible in his 20th and final NBA season.

“Managing his minutes and keeping in mind he wants to play, we want to get him to the end of the season,” Kupchak said. “It’s somewhat of a challenge.”

Russell also has experienced challenges. But Kupchak described Russell as “light years ahead of where he was in Summer League” after averaging 12.2 points on 41.5 percent shooting, 3.3 assists and 2.4 turnovers this season. Scott does not plan to start Russell for Friday’s game in San Antonio, but the Lakers’ coach insisted Russell will start soon.

“It’ll be great. But I don’t really care about the starting lineup,” Russell said. “If I’m going to come off the bench, I’ll get used to it. When I get in, I’ll take advantage of that. If I’m a starter, I’ll get used to that.”

Regardless, it appears Kupchak wants to get used to seeing Russell and his younger teammates play more.

“As you get closer to the end of the season, it’s possibly less important to look at your veterans and more important to look at your younger players,” Kupchak said. “That would be the case with us.”

Mark Medina has been the Lakers beat writer for the Los Angeles Daily News since 2012. He also works as a Lakers insider for AM570 and is heard on national radio outlets, including The Dan Patrick Show, The Herd with Colin Cowherd, The Chris Mannix Show, Fox Sports Radio, CBS Sports Radio, Yahoo! Sports Radio and SB Nation Radio. Medina also appears frequently on Spectrum SportsNet and NBC4's "Going Roggin."